The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In the automobile industry, research into applying conventional Ethernet technology to vehicles is underway.
In current vehicle networks, the number of in-vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) and complexity of the ECUs are increasing and a high bandwidth and fusion are required due to a demand for advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs), infotainment and diagnostic devices.
Therefore, vehicle manufacturers, in-vehicle part manufacturers and in-vehicle semiconductor companies propose requirements for new networks which may replace the conventional vehicle networks.
Accordingly, research for applying Ethernet technology, which is widely used in data communication networks, to a vehicle network is underway.
If Ethernet technology is used as a vehicle network, a high bandwidth may be provided and the number of ECUs and system complexity may be reduced.
Further, if Ethernet is applied to a vehicle network, a conventional heavy cable may be replaced with an Ethernet cable, thereby reducing vehicle weight and overall parts costs.
For these reasons, major international vehicle companies are recently carrying out research and development of commercial products by applying Ethernet technology to vehicles and standards organizations are actively working on Ethernet standards for in-vehicle networks.
International standards organizations including OPENSOG and the like carry out standardization of in-vehicle Ethernet technology, particularly, physical layers, now, and vehicle manufacturers define software stack architectures for application of in-vehicle Ethernet on their own.
However, conventionally used Ethernet technology and Ethernet technology which has been defined in AUTmotive Open System Architecture (AUTOSAR) are not optimized for vehicle environments.
Particularly, an in-vehicle Ethernet software stack architecture defined in AUTOSAR has elements which are not adapted to vehicle environments. Thus network processing speed may be lowered, and usage of a memory in an ECU is increased, thereby increasing overall system load and costs.